A former Washington Parish business owner was sentenced earlier this month for multiple tax violations, according to Chief Deputy Mike Haley of the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office.

In June of 2016, former Washington Parish business owner Hussein Ali Faour, 43, a resident of Cleveland Street in Franklinton, was arrested by the WPSO and charged with 36 counts of failure to account for local tax monies and 36 counts of evasion of tax. He was placed in the Washington Parish Jail and released later the same day, after posting a $15,000 bond.

Haley said that this was the first time in the history of Washington Parish that the sheriff has made a criminal case against any person for failure to remit collected sales tax. It was also a precedent-setting case for the 22nd Judicial District Court, Haley said.

On Aug. 4, Faour appeared before the 22nd Judicial District Court in Franklinton and entered a plea of guilty to all charges. For failure to account for local tax monies, he was sentenced to one year on each count of hard labor in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. The court suspended the sentence and placed him on three years of supervised probation.

For the 36 counts of evasion of tax, Faour was sentenced to five years on each count of hard labor in the custody of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections. The court suspended the sentence and placed him on three years of supervised probation, with each sentence to run concurrent with the other, Haley said.

As part of the conditions of probation, Faour must pay a monthly supervision fee of $71 and make restitution. The amount of restitution will be determined at a restitution hearing, which is set for Sept. 27. If Faour fails to meet any of the conditions of his probation, he is subject to probation revocation and being placed in the physical custody of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, Haley said.

Washington Parish Sheriff Randy Seal commented on the results of the case.

“This was a complicated case, but our detectives did an excellent job in sorting through all of the details to obtain a warrant for Faour’s arrest,” he said. “This should serve as a reminder to each business owner in Washington Parish that state and local sales tax which is collected must be remitted to the State of Louisiana and to the Washington Parish Sheriff’s Office on a monthly basis.

“Failure to do so is a criminal act punishable by fines and imprisonment. As the ex-officio tax collector for Washington Parish, I am duty bound to impartially collect all sales tax due to the various entities of our parish and then distribute those monies according to Louisiana statutes.

“Those tax funds are utilized to support many governmental functions in Washington Parish, including law enforcement and our school systems.”